For readers not acquainted with the term, apoptosis is suicide by a cell when it sees itself not fit for use. A kind of sacrifice for 'the greater good'. Interestingly, this is also the feeling of a living being when he/she gets a suicidal feeling, going by the suicide notes. I am no psychiatrist but the recent happenings have definitely made everyone sit up and think about what's wrong with the place labelled as the best place to be for your life to prosper. How ironic, isn't it?
My fellow IITians, you may not know me. How would you? I am arguably the biggest introvert you will ever meet. But being an introvert and a lonely person are two very different things. I have never known the feelings of the latter. But the recent happenings have certainly made me wonder what kind of hopelessness and gloom the person must have gone through to take his life. I had always thought that suicide is an act of cowardice. Probably it is. But at the same time, it requires a certain amount of courage also to take away your own life. There is a difference though, between this courage and the usual courage we hear about taking a stand and stuff like that. That difference is in the source. The source of the 'normal' courage is a sense of righteousness, a sense of pride, that what I am doing is right. But the source of the 'suicidal' courage is that of desperation, misery, despondency and despair.
As people having a science background, we tend to instantly look for solutions. That is good, very good. But in this 'habit' of ours, we tend to underestimate the gravity of the problem too. There are several people who have proposed solutions to this. But the question is whether these solutions are sure-shot correct. I hope most people will agree with me when I say certainly not. Why? Because the variables involved in this problem is far too many. Surely, nobody is so fragile that one problem crops up and bang, he commits suicide. I think its probably small things that keep piling the pressure up and ultimately the last straw breaks his back. For an outsider, it might seem trivial but to him, it was probably linked to so many other problems that he didn't see himself strong enough to solve them. I can't offer a solution to this but I can definitely offer some advice because some of my friends have gone through this. These little bits of advice only pertain to the life of an IITian, or probably to a college going student. But they can definitely be extrapolated to a general mass.
Life, as I have understood it, is to attain happiness. For me, this comes through having a purpose and going after it. Different people might have different means of attaining it. But from what I have seen, most people don't understand this basic premise of life. Right from their childhood days, they are told to live someone else's life because he/she attained 'success' by following that life. Equate it to your aunts asking you how you cracked JEE, so that they can tell their sons/daughters to follow your path and attain 'nirvana'. I am not blaming them or demeaning them. Everyone does that. But, as you can see, the results are quite horrible. When we take such 'tried and tested' formulas, we tend to create a certain achievement and a standard in our minds. Well, guess what? These 'tried and tested' formulas don't necessarily give us our expected results. This is when things start going awkward. We are not ready for the worst case scenario and so what do we do? Give up. Why? Because we don't know how to achieve that standard. That is why it is important that we choose our means to happiness and not someone else. This way, we are always ready for the worst case scenario and the situation will not take us by surprise. There will be opposition, sometimes from friends and sometimes from family as well. I say don't give in. Fight for your happiness. I know family means a lot but certainly they have not brought you up to do their bidding, right? Sooner or later, they will come around. But if you are trapped in the web of hopelessness, there will not seem any light at the end of the tunnel. Live your life for your own happiness. Seems like a bit of preaching, right? I must admit I have not achieved anything till now (except maybe JEE :P) to advice but I am following my own path. Whether it will lead me to success or not is another matter but only by virtue of choosing my own path, I have cut off the suicidal path in my life. Even if I become a nobody in life, I will always know what makes me happy and continue to do it. I am most certainly sure that this thought will never allow me to consider suicide as an option.
At the end I would say that no problem is big enough to take away your life. Every problem has a solution. You just need to look into the correct places. So, get up, pull up your socks and fight for your life. The world is with you and its wonderful.
Cheers!
B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering/M.Tech in Engineering
My fellow IITians, you may not know me. How would you? I am arguably the biggest introvert you will ever meet. But being an introvert and a lonely person are two very different things. I have never known the feelings of the latter. But the recent happenings have certainly made me wonder what kind of hopelessness and gloom the person must have gone through to take his life. I had always thought that suicide is an act of cowardice. Probably it is. But at the same time, it requires a certain amount of courage also to take away your own life. There is a difference though, between this courage and the usual courage we hear about taking a stand and stuff like that. That difference is in the source. The source of the 'normal' courage is a sense of righteousness, a sense of pride, that what I am doing is right. But the source of the 'suicidal' courage is that of desperation, misery, despondency and despair.
As people having a science background, we tend to instantly look for solutions. That is good, very good. But in this 'habit' of ours, we tend to underestimate the gravity of the problem too. There are several people who have proposed solutions to this. But the question is whether these solutions are sure-shot correct. I hope most people will agree with me when I say certainly not. Why? Because the variables involved in this problem is far too many. Surely, nobody is so fragile that one problem crops up and bang, he commits suicide. I think its probably small things that keep piling the pressure up and ultimately the last straw breaks his back. For an outsider, it might seem trivial but to him, it was probably linked to so many other problems that he didn't see himself strong enough to solve them. I can't offer a solution to this but I can definitely offer some advice because some of my friends have gone through this. These little bits of advice only pertain to the life of an IITian, or probably to a college going student. But they can definitely be extrapolated to a general mass.
Life, as I have understood it, is to attain happiness. For me, this comes through having a purpose and going after it. Different people might have different means of attaining it. But from what I have seen, most people don't understand this basic premise of life. Right from their childhood days, they are told to live someone else's life because he/she attained 'success' by following that life. Equate it to your aunts asking you how you cracked JEE, so that they can tell their sons/daughters to follow your path and attain 'nirvana'. I am not blaming them or demeaning them. Everyone does that. But, as you can see, the results are quite horrible. When we take such 'tried and tested' formulas, we tend to create a certain achievement and a standard in our minds. Well, guess what? These 'tried and tested' formulas don't necessarily give us our expected results. This is when things start going awkward. We are not ready for the worst case scenario and so what do we do? Give up. Why? Because we don't know how to achieve that standard. That is why it is important that we choose our means to happiness and not someone else. This way, we are always ready for the worst case scenario and the situation will not take us by surprise. There will be opposition, sometimes from friends and sometimes from family as well. I say don't give in. Fight for your happiness. I know family means a lot but certainly they have not brought you up to do their bidding, right? Sooner or later, they will come around. But if you are trapped in the web of hopelessness, there will not seem any light at the end of the tunnel. Live your life for your own happiness. Seems like a bit of preaching, right? I must admit I have not achieved anything till now (except maybe JEE :P) to advice but I am following my own path. Whether it will lead me to success or not is another matter but only by virtue of choosing my own path, I have cut off the suicidal path in my life. Even if I become a nobody in life, I will always know what makes me happy and continue to do it. I am most certainly sure that this thought will never allow me to consider suicide as an option.
At the end I would say that no problem is big enough to take away your life. Every problem has a solution. You just need to look into the correct places. So, get up, pull up your socks and fight for your life. The world is with you and its wonderful.
Cheers!
Anish Kumar Sinha
4th yearB.Tech in Mechanical Engineering/M.Tech in Engineering
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